The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, also known as S.P.E.W., was an organisation founded in 1994 by Hermione Granger in response to what she saw as gross injustice in the treatment of house-elves at the 1994Quidditch World Cup[1].
Having been deeply upset at the treatment and general prospects of house-elves both in Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world, Hermione set up S.P.E.W. in order to champion their rights. Hermione originally wanted to call the organisation Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status. Since it wouldn't fit on a badge, it was given its current name, though the original name was retained as the heading of the group's manifesto.

Contents

Founding

"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal! It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"

Hermione Granger thought it cruel that house-elves were neither paid nor given holidays for their work, so she campaigned tirelessly for a change in their working conditions. She managed to get several students such as Neville Longbottom to join (paying a fee of two Sickles), though they only did so to stop her from badgering them. These students included a reluctant Ron Weasley and an indifferent Harry Potter. However, their sickles were overall wasted, as she kept badgering them about the issues of the organisation.

She would go round the Gryffindorcommon room shaking her S.P.E.W. badge box at people to make them join. A few seemed interested but refused when they found they had to pay. Apparently a few other people looked "mildly interested" in the campaign, but there are no further reports of anyone else actually becoming a member. She also offered it to Hagrid, but he refused as well saying that the elves liked to work. Fred and George Weasley also put in that the house elves were happy to work at Hogwarts. The rest of the school thought of the organisation as a joke. And so, with little or no support from her unwilling deputies, Hermione battled on pretty much alone, employing tactics such as badge-making and petitioning, but with very little effect. Eventually, she started knitting hats and socks, which she left lying around Gryffindor Tower, hoping to free some unsuspecting elf who picked them up while cleaning the common room.

Becoming infuriated with Hermione's obsession with the Society, Ron Weasley started calling the group "spew" and, on occasion parodied the name by inventing S.P.U.G., "Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins". Hermione sarcastically replied to this by pointing out that Goblins, unlike House Elves, were capable of defending themselves against Wizards on their own.[1]

House-elves' reaction

The only upshot of her campaign was that she alienated and infuriated the elves themselves. While she was busy knitting clothes to give them in order to set them free, the majority of house-elves are accustomed to their work, and seem to enjoy it. They regarded Hermione's actions as insults to their race. Thus, they refused to clean the Gryffindor common room any more, meaning that Dobby was the only one prepared to carry out this task. Already being free himself, he took all the clothes himself, wore most of them (making a tower of hats on top of his head), and passed some of the others on to Winky in the false hopes of cheering her up[1]. Hermione was not informed of this development, as no one had the heart to tell her.

Impact

Ron Weasley: "Hang on a moment! We've forgotten someone! The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?"

Harry Potter: "You mean we ought to get them fighting?"

Ron Weasley: "No, I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can’t order them to die for us–"

In spite of all this, there are indications that S.P.E.W. did eventually enjoy some moderate success, though it is likely that by then it was disbanded. Hogwarts' house-elves participated in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 in an unusually bold move for their kind, although this may have been a manifestation of their extreme loyalty to their "masters". However, it is possible that their contribution to the battle changed some people's views, as even Ron Weasley, a previous vocal critic of S.P.E.W., demonstrated concern and sympathy for the plight for house-elves at the time which prompted Hermione to kiss him.[2]

Hermione's idea that house-elves should be treated decently led to Harry attempting to be nice to house-elf, Kreacher, which caused Kreacher to be nice and tell Harry the story of his master Regulus Black's visit to the horcrux cave.

Hermione had founded S.P.E.W. because she saw Winky being set free by Mr. Crouch. Ironically, one of her campaigns was to set elves free.

While Harry and Ron were said to be secretary and treasurer of the group, respectively, both roles were appointed by Hermione before they agreed to join the group. Never was either said to have actually have accepted these roles, nor were they ever depicted as acting in them.

Other languages

In Turkish, the foundation's name is E.R.İ.T. ("Ev Cini Refahını İlerletme Topluluğu" which stands for "The Society for Prosecution of House Elves' Ease"). In Turkish, "erit" means "melt".

In Georgian the foundation's name is ედამ (EDAM) (ელფთა დამოუკიდებლობის აღდგენის ორგანიზაცია). If you change დ(D) to ლ(L), you'll get Georgian word for squint-eyed.

In Hungarian, the foundation's name is M.A.J.O.M. ("Manók Alkotmányos Jogaiért Országos Mozgalom" which stands for "National Movement for the Constitutional Rights of Elves"). In Hungarian "majom" means "monkey".

In French, the foundation's name is S.A.L.E. ("Société d'Aide à la Libération des Elfes" which stands for "The Society for Helping the Realease of the Elves"). In french, "sale" means "dirty".

In Brazilian Portuguese, the foundation's name is F.A.L.E. ("Fundação de Apoio à Libertação dos Elfos" which stands for "Foundation to Support the Liberation of the Elves"). The word "fale" means "say".

In European Portuguese, the foundation's name is B.A.B.E. ("Brigada de Apoio ao Bem-estar dos Elfos" which stands for "Brigade to Support the Welfare of Elves"). The word "babe" means "drool".

In Spanish, the foundation's name is P.E.D.D.O. ("Plataforma Élfica de Defensa de los Derechos Obreros", which stands for "Elvish Platform for the Defense of the Worker Rights"). "PEDDO" is a namesake word for "pedo", that means "to fart".

In Swedish, the foundation's name is F.I.S.A. Just like the Spanish name, "fisa" means "to fart".

In Norwegian, the foundation's name is H.I.K.K. ("Husnissenes Internasjonale Kampkoalisjon"), which in English is the same as "hiccup".

In German, the foundation's name is B.ELFE.R ("Bund für Elfenrechte" or "Alliance for the Rights of Elves"). The word "Belfer" doesn't exist in German, but it sounds stupid.

In Dutch, the foundations's name is S.H.I.T. ("Stichting Huiself voor Inburgering en Toleratie"). The meaning should be clear.

In Finnish, the foundation's name is S.Y.L.K.Y. (Samat Yhteiset Lait Kotitontuillekkin -Yhdistys - Same Common Rights for House-Elves -Association) "Sylky" means "a spit" or "spit".

In Icelandic, the foundation's name is S.Á.R. ("Samtök um Álfaréttindi" or "Society of Elf Rights") "Sár" means "wound".

In Greek, the foundation's name is Μ.Υ.Ξ.Α. "ΜΥΞΑ" means "snot".

In Czech, the foundation's name is S.P.O.Ž.Ú.S. ("Společnost pro Podporu Občanské a Životní Úrovně Skřítků" or "Movement for Better Social and Life Rights of Elves"). Word Spožús don't have any meaning in this language, it just sounds funny.

In Slovak, the foundation's name is S.O.P.L.O.Š. ("Spoločnosť pre ochranu práv a legálne oslobodenie škriatkov"). "Soploš" may mean "the one who produces snot".

In Croatian, the foundation's name is Z.B.L.J.U.V. ("Zajednica za boljitak ugnjetavanih vilenjaka" which is "The Society for the Benefit of Oppressed Elves"). "Zbljuv" could be translated (as the shortened version of "izbljuvak") as "vomit".

In Italian, the foundation name is C.R.E.P.A. ("Comitato per la Riabilitazione degli Elfi Poveri e Abbruttiti", changed in later versions to "Comitato per la Riabilitazione degli Elfi Proletari e Alienati"). "Crepa" is the third person singular simple present (or the second person singular imperative) of the verb "crepare", a gergal version of the verb "morire" (to die).

In Latvian, the foundation name is V.E.M.T. ("Vergojošo elfu maznodrošinātās tiesības"), which stands for "vomit" in English.

In Lithuanian, the foundation's name is E.G.G.D. ("Elfų Gerovės Gynimo Draugija").

In Romanian, the foundation's name is S.P.A.S. ("Societatea Pentru Apărarea Spiridușilor" - "Society For Protecting Elves").

In Slovenian, the foundation's name is B.R.U.H.V. ("Bratovščina razsvetljevalcev ubogih hišnih vilincev"). Bruh is the stem of the word "bruhati", which means "to vomit".

In Bulgarian, the foundation's name is S.M.R.A.D. ("Сдружение на магьосници за равноправие и авторитет на духчетата", which stands for "Association of wizards for equality and authority of house-elves"). The word "smrad" means "stink".